Furious Chelsea fans stranded in Liverpool after chartered Thomas Cook train leaves hundreds behind

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Hundreds of Chelsea supporters were left fuming when an officially chartered train left them in Liverpool following Saturday's 1-1 draw at Anfield.

The club's travel partner Thomas Cook Sport had earlier taken Blues fans from London Euston and Watford Junction to Merseyside for the game, which kicked off at 5.30pm.

Thomas Cook provided a coach service to take fans from the stadium back to the railway station after the match but three of the four buses did not arrive at Liverpool South Parkway on time and the train left without them.

Hundreds of Chelsea supporters were stranded at Liverpool South Parkway on Saturday night

Fans had been warned that the train would not wait for them in an itinerary letter, but there was genuine shock when Thomas Cook stuck to their policy despite more than half of their patrons being unable to board due to no fault of their own.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said: 'Two of our coaches arrived late to the station after hitting traffic that was worse than expected on a matchday. 

'Unfortunately we can't hold the train past its scheduled departure time because the tracks need to be clear for other trains. We've arranged coaches to bring our delayed customers back to London, and we are sorry for the inconvenience caused.'

The travel firm also responded to a Chelsea fan on Twitter, when a member of their customer service team wrote: 'This is a charter train and has a set timed path in between normal passenger services, unfortunately it isn't as easy as just delaying its departure.'

The angry Blues fans were left behind by a train chartered by club partner Thomas Cook Sport

Coaches were later booked to take the stranded supporters back to London, but they had still yet to depart at 12.10am on Sunday morning — five minutes before the train was due to arrive at Euston.

Many fans had left bags and other personal belongings on the train when they arrived earlier in the day, further complicating the situation.

Thomas Cook explained on Twitter that they were trying to arrange a collection point for the belongings, with a London hotel a likely venue. 

The game ended 1-1 between Chelsea and Premier League rivals Liverpool after Willian's late goal cancelled out Mohamed Salah's second-half opener.

Willian's second-half goal cancelled out Mo Salah's opener to secure a 1-1 draw at Anfield